Adapted from the arresting 2010 Australian thriller, the series contains glimpses of the gritty, compelling series it could be, but judged on its first three episodes, this tale of a dysfunctional Southern California crime family is more bark than bite.

There's nothing particularly fresh or insightful here about the volatile culture of macho posturing and career crime but it's a gritty crime show in the bright California sun filled with violence and sex and reckless, raw characters...

Despite featuring a cast of mostly unknowns and being developed from foreign-produced source material, the show managed to suck viewers in... with slick production values, fine performances, taut direction and a tension-filled narrative throughline.

In the course of the drama's first three episodes, it becomes more and more apparent that, despite its characters' shady pasts and dicey decisions, the show is, on the whole, fairly predictable and even conventional.